The Madness of a Renegade
by RoxisTheWhite
Summary: Three mysterious outsiders are running out of places to go when they come across the Recon Corps during an expedition.


**Before you begin reading, if you are not a fan of yaoi, yuri, gore, and occasional swearing, this is where you stop reading. However, if you prefer the things mentioned previously, read on and enjoy. You have been warned. - Rox**  
**Comments appreciated! - Zar**

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The deck was crowded with weary travelers and merchants from Fayfair, the city we were escaping. The wind blew my maroon hair out of my face, trailing the scents of the spices beneath the floor boards. With my elbows propped on the wooden rails of the boat, I leaned over the edge, staring at the rolling hills and forests. Among the scenery, I could make out the gigantic silhouettes of titans spread across the land and it immediately brought a glare to my eyes. Oh, how I wished I was within range of killing them, all of them.

As I was watching, what seemed to be over a hundred tiny shapes forming a distinct circle emerged from the trees, leaving green, red, and black smoke in their wake. Before I had the chance to evaluate them any further, a sudden barrage of heavy footsteps approached and a door was slammed open to reveal an angry merchant who was quite literally red in the face.

"Where is the captain?" shouted the mad little man. With an inward groan, I discretely disappeared down the stairs, easily spotting two dark figures sprawled out asleep on a mountain of crates. "Psst," I whispered, shaking them as gently as possible. The boy's purple eyes fluttered open to glance at me as he sat up to listen. Beside him, the girl's vivid emerald ones turned to us while she tossed her long, dark locks out of her face. "We may be getting off sooner than expected; get ready to leave," I explained. Kenshii swept his onyx hair out of his shadowy eyes and hopped off the stack, pausing only to help Yumi down. The two stretched out their stiff limbs with quiet yawns, still too tired to reply or even give much thought to their actions. Slowly, I ambled toward the staircase, reluctant to head back to the crowded area.

Quietly, Kenshii and Yumi followed me back up the stairs, then out onto the deck. Apparently, chaos had erupted while we were out of the way. Crew members had rounded up all the passengers for questioning; those who resisted had a bullet through their head. As we appeared, silence overtook the scene and all eyes turned to us: the shady travelers who matched the descriptions of several who were wanted dead. Yumi's eyes were wide, but I couldn't tell if it was a look of fear, or one of madness. She seemed to tense as several of the crew members dropped their current prey and turned their full attention to us.

Before I had time to negotiate, an arm was slung around my waist as Kenshii leaped from the boat carrying Yumi and me. I sighed, knowing what was coming and covered my ears in advance. A fierce roar tore from my best friend's throat as he transformed into the elegant Chinese dragon tattooed onto his back. Kenshii slithered toward the ground, his warm-colored scales glistening like a fire in the sky. As soon as we were close enough to the ground, I hopped out of his talons and began searching for any clue that would give away where we were. All I saw were the hills, littered with ruins and trees and soaked in the familiar scent of titans.

Another roar left Kenshii as he changed back into his human form and led Yumi over to where I stood, scratching my head in thought. "Where the hell are we?" Yumi questioned quietly as she glanced around. "South of Fayfair," I answered," that's all I know." I threw a glance at my friends and went on," Rumors will get to Urbinmare soon... I need more time to figure out where we'll go instead." Silence engulfed the three of us for a few moments before Yumi lead us toward a large expanse of trees. No one objected to what seemed to be a random decision. After all, where else did we have to go?

Soon, the black-haired girl pointed toward a shape grazing amongst the underbrush. "We can eat it, right?" she inquired. After a closer look, I realized it was a horse, still saddled as if someone had been riding it. "Go for it," I muttered. A light emerald symbol appeared on Yumi's wrist as a bow and arrow formed from the same material, changing into wood shortly after. In an instant, she let the arrow fly through the air, finding its home directly in the horse's pupil and killing it before the poor creature hit the ground. Her weapons receded into the symbol from which they'd come and, it too, disappeared without a trace. Yumi glanced back at us with a huge grin lacing her features, as if she was searching for approval. I returned her smile with one of my own and even Kenshii couldn't stop himself from smirking.

Later, we sat around the fire I made beside the carcass as we each cooked a small bit on a stick. No words were exchanged while we ate; disappointment heavily clouded the air, no matter how much I wanted to deny it. The boat had been the only easy transportation available to us in the months on the run and even there, we were nearly caught. Though I would never mention it out loud, the list of places we would be safe in was growing severely slim. It was a grim situation; that was an understatement at best.

I was so caught up in my thoughts that the chunk of horse impaled on my stick burst into flames and even then, still went unnoticed. Kenshii eyed me while he gulped down his perfectly cooked piece. With ease, he reached into the fire and tossed my food into his mouth. I had to remind myself that fire couldn't hurt him as he swallowed the flaming meat and blew a puff of steam out his nose. "Can you two hear them?" Yumi questioned.

"There's plenty of things to hear Yumi," Kenshii remarked. She smacked his arm lightly and began glancing around us. "I was talking about the titans." Since Yumi said it, I did notice titans and plenty of them, but what I noticed was the heavy scent. It was enough to drive me insane all by itself and it was steadily growing closer. I couldn't help but wonder how we had attracted so many all of a sudden, but then I remembered the nearly perfect circle I had seen from the boat. My eyes wandered to the saddle strapped to the unlucky horse we were cooking. "We aren't alone out here," I concluded. Yumi glanced at me with a glint of confusion, but quickly turned back to the fire.

I understood her lack of comprehension once I began thinking about it. Those who left their homeland without good reasons were considered renegades, causing them to be openly hunted, which limited their numbers greatly. With that, traveling over long distances on horseback had become obsolete nearly a century ago as the dangers had grown into nightmares; the few who ignored this where killed off within a few miles of their kingdoms. The only exception I could think of were the assassins sent after us, who hadn't had enough time to hear the rumors of our whereabouts.

The question of the titans' mystery prey remained as I felt a twinge of adrenaline surge through my body, lighting an onyx symbol that called out my scythe. Its blade progressed from the maroon color of my hair to the brightest yellow like the fire before us. As I looked toward my companions, I saw that they had already done the same. Kenshii had his huge labrys, decorated with something small from each kingdom laced between its blades and Yumi with her elegant recurve bow, sharpened into spikes toward each of its ends.

We were prepared for anything, at least, that's how I felt when we spotted a group of riders being chased toward us by an even larger group of titans. Most of them were dying on their horses or injured enough that they were unable to fight; I could see that just by the first glance. I noticed swords and strange equipment on each of them, but that wasn't my point of interest. As the riders in the green cloaks drew nearer, a tall titan with a pointy nose and a fat gut grabbed an injured man. In an instant, an arrow flew past me, taking out one of the monster's narrow eyes.

Our target was marked; that was all Kenshii and I required. We dashed through the flow of the humans, the scent of blood and terror thick in the air. With an abrupt sense of determination, I took a deep breath full of my surroundings, smirking cruelly at its familiarity. As we reached the beast, I used the back of a horse as a step, the person riding it as my next, and the tree nearby as my last to get to my prey, giving a hideously wide smile at my victory as I raised my scythe. Kenshii chopped off its hand as if it was no more than butter and got the injured man onto a mount. Just as the titan was swinging an arm at my friend, I sliced open the back of its neck. By then, Yumi was already marking our next targets with blinding arrows and we rushed to pick them off in mostly the same manner: Yumi tried to hit their eyes, Kenshii slowed them down and I finished them.

Suddenly, we found ourselves no longer fighting alone. I paid no attention to the men in green cloaks assisting us, that is, I didn't until I was about to make my twenty-first kill and collided with one of them in mid-air. The black-haired man landed with his elbows firmly seated in my ribs and the twenty foot fall broken by the rest of my body. With a groan that came out as more of a growl, I reopened my eyes to see the titan's dead body tumbling over onto its side. Disappointment edged itself into my head, slowly, but surely.

The man who I'd crashed into was on his feet again before I even realized he'd moved. I eyed him curiously from my spot on the ground. An uncaring expression that seemed as though it had been in place for the past ten years was heavily plastered on his face. He had the harshest pair of grey eyes to match and I only noticed this because he was using them to glare at me while he dusted himself off. "Watch where you're going brat," he hissed. Before I could begin to think of a sarcastic remark to shoot back at him, A blonde man nearly Kenshii's size left the crowd of soldiers, only to come between us and stop to stare. He had a pair of bushes raised over a pair of aqua orbs that surveyed me in the same way I evaluated him. "So do we need to kill you now, or are you friendly?" inquired the same short man with harsh eyes.

I peeked at Kenshii and Yumi poised to attack the men with drawn swords surrounding them. Kenshii turned a worry-filled face in my direction, watching as I carefully chose my words. "I could ask you the same thing. We're peaceful as long as you show us the same courtesy." The blonde man's expression remained the same as he offered his hand to help me off the ground. Behind me, I heard his companions sheathing their weapons. Reluctant to completely give myself away, I reclaimed my scythe, taking care to keep it in a position that wouldn't seem threatening. Even so, I noticed a few men and women tensing up.

Yumi and Kenshii were by my side again before another moment could pass. "More titans will come you know," Yumi called meekly. The blonde man nodded at Yumi's statement. "Introductions can wait until we're behind the walls," he explained," However, I'm afraid we're running low on horses." I couldn't help but wonder just what walls we would be running behind; these men and women didn't dress like any I'd seen or heard of.

"We'll manage without them," Kenshii declared, finally speaking up. A scoff escaped my lips and I pouted in disapproval. We didn't know how far those people were going or if we'd have to leave again once we got there. "Hush Isa, I'll carry you two if you're going to be lazy. I could use a workout anyway," he remarked. I realized there was no point in trying to hide who we were if it was going to be obvious anyway. With that thought, I reminded myself that I could speak freely. "Don't get too cocky dragon ass," I retorted playfully, sticking my tongue out to emphasize this. He gave a light chuckle before allowing his labrys to fade into the grey symbol on his arm. The two men before us, along with a few other onlookers, turned suspicious glances in our direction. No one seemed to question it and the blonde man mounted his horse before turning to give orders to his soldiers. The black haired man hesitated only to say," Try to keep up, or we'll leave you behind." Then he, too, found his stallion and hopped into the saddle.

Kenshii scoffed as if it was a challenge and joined the few that seemed to be those who would be leading the others. With a light laugh, Yumi followed him as I reluctantly joined her. Finally, jade smoke shot into the air and the first riders pressed their horses onward. The three of us easily kept up on foot, but my gut was beginning to hint that something was awry, something that I should've noticed. My mind drifted as I wondered what I could've missed; all I could do was continue running and prepare for what was coming as one of the soldiers fired off a red smoke round as titans began appearing over the horizon in large numbers.

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**Zar, Star, and I really love reviews, so any constructive criticism or other comments are great. Anyway, thanks for reading! We appreciate it! -Rox**


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